Winter Girls
by tigrai
Summary: 11 years ago, Kiba met Hinata on a park swing on Christmas day; they've been best friends since.  Hinata never was a winter girl, until the day she forgot her best friend's Christmas present. The day before Christmas. AU KibaHina. Christmas fic.


**A/N: Be nice, it's my first FanFiction story. I adore KibaHina, my favourite Het pairing of all time. Plus I'm in a Christmassy mood. C: I hope you enjoy it. Ooga booga! I'm a strange child. **

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><p>It was the day before Christmas, and the air was cold and merry. Hinata shivered inside her house, although she was already wearing a turtle neck warm brown sweater. Jolly Christmas music sang quietly from her stereo as she neatly wrapped Christmas presents and stacked them in an orderly pile underneath her well-decorated Christmas tree.<p>

"Santa baby, hurry down the chimney tonight," crooned the lady from the stereo, her velvety voice encircling Hinata, sending chills up her spine. Hinata had always loved Eartha Kitt. She sighed a sigh of pure pleasure as her nimble fingers folded the reindeer-printed wrapping paper around the Il Divo Album that she had gotten her father.

She knew she was behind in Christmas wrapping and shopping, but she had finally finished her Christmas shopping, after 4 days of gruelling and nearly torturing shopping. Ino, Sakura, Hiashi, Hanabi, Tenten, Kiba..Wait, Kiba? Her eyes widened considerably before she scrambled to look through every single one of the Christmas-themed cards she had attached to all the presents sitting under her tree.

Tenten, check, Sakura, check, Kiba… She scrunched her eyes in annoyance, her lilac eyes narrowed in anger. Had she actually forgotten her best friend's present? She humph-ed angrily, almost uncharacteristically, before turning around and looking around for her stereo remote.

She lifted Tenten's present, looking for her remote before finding it lying sprawled under the Christmas tree. She flattened her back, stretching to reach for the tiny black remote, the faux leaves scratching her back. Damn her unusually large Christmas tree.

She loved her Christmas tree though, tall, dark and green, decorated with white and gold baubles and mini-present decorations.

She stretched further and grabbed the little keychain attached to her remote and tugged, sighing in relief as she backed out of under the tree and clicked pause, then off on her remote. The merry Christmas songs halted mid-sentence and she threw the remote onto the counter, before grabbing her keys. She stood up, and slipped on her cherry red flats, opening the door and stepping out.

She locked the door behind her, clicking the lock and shaking the door knob almost violently to make sure the door was properly locked. Then, satisfied, she walked down the snow-covered streets, heading to the local shopping centre.

Konoha was a tiny city, and the local shopping centre was as close as she would get to a proper shopping mall. She walked briskly, eager to escape the harsh wind whipping at her cheeks. She shivered and cursed herself, her sweater was thin and her body wasn't designed for this kind of weather.

"Hinata!," a voice called behind her. She turned around, a tall, tan man standing before her.  
>"K-Kiba-kun!," she said, smiling as he ruffled her hair playfully.<br>"What are you doing here? Last minute shopping?," he guessed, nodding his head over to the looming shopping centre. She blushed and nodded, hoping he wouldn't know that she forgot his present. she was sure he had gotten her's ages ago. It was unlike her to be so disorganised to have forgotten Kiba's present.

"What? You cold?," he asked, glancing at her. She looked up surprised.  
>"Why do you say that?," she asked, looking up at his obviously taller form. He smiled.<br>"You're shivering like a chihuahua." She blushed as she realised she probably was; she'd always hated winter, thanks to her poor tolerance for the cold. Konoha had bitter winters, and their blissful summers definitely made up for it. She was more of a Summer girl.

He shrugged off his jacket and chucked it at her.  
>"K-Kiba!," she struggled to catch his heavy leather jacket, "What are you doing?"<br>"You're cold, aren't you?"  
>"Aren't you?"<br>His warm, velvety laugh filled the cold air. She almost smiled unconsciously; his laugh was that infectious.

"Me? You know me, Hinata. It's smouldering for me." He grinned, hugging her from behind to prove his point. His body was warm, as usual, like hers would be after a long day of sunbathing.  
>"Your body temperature is u-unnatural Kiba-kun," she laughed as he picked her tiny body up and swung her around, before setting her down. She teetered for a minute before she regained her balance, giggling like she used to as a little girl.<p>

Kiba could always reduce her into giggles and laughs, even though it always seemed so uncharacteristically incorrect. She stuttered less around him, and she could only think of one explaination; they were best friends. Ino and Sakura always hinted for something more, but there was nothing but pure friendship between them..right?

She reached the revolving doors of the shopping centre.  
>"I'll meet you at the park at around 4, and I'll walk you home. Alright?," Kiba offered, patting her head. She smiled and nodded.<br>"Hai." They split up, Kiba heading towards H&M and Hinata feigning towards Bras and Things before she looked around, making sure he wasn't looking and walking briskly towards the gourmet supermarket.

"45 ¥, thanks," the cashier said, chewing her bubblegum vigorously, making loud smacking sounds with her teeth. Hinata flinched as the lady rudely popped a bubble dangerously near Hinata's hair. She pulled out her pink purse and counted up some money, before pulling a 50 ¥ note out. The lady snatched it out of her hands and stuffed it in the cashier machine, blowing a bubble and handing Hinata a 5 ¥ bill back.  
>"Thank you very much, come again," the lady sneered and Hinata winced from the harshness of her voice.<br>"Uh, y-yeah."

She hurried out of the store, carefully carrying her delicately wrapped packet of Almond Delight. Kiba had always adored almonds: since primary school, instead of a sandwich like normal kids, he always brought a plastic container of roasted almonds. So she had gotten him a packet of the most expensive mix of almonds. Almonds dipped in white chocolate, raw almonds, chocolate infused almonds, almond infused chocolate, almonds dipped in orange infused chocolate sauce; you name it, in was in the box.

She pushed her way out of the busy shopping centre, and gasped as she stepped out of the shopping centre, the cold wind immediately attacking her face again. Her delicate skin was already red and blistered, definitely not used to the winter breeze. Kiba was waiting for her at the stop sign, and he turned and saw her. He raised a hand and waved, showing his canines in one of his heart-melting smiles.

"What'd you get?," he queried, looking into the little bag curiously. She slapped his hand, instinctively.  
>"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry, it just happened..," she babbled, her face turning bright red as the strolled across the abandoned street, as she apologised profusely. He laughed again, his warm voice encircling her body. She nearly shivered in delight at the sound of his laugh.<p>

"It's alright," he laughed, straightening up. They walked silently down the nearly empty park, leading up to her house. The park was covered in glistening white snow, the birds all silent and probably away for the season. The abandoned playground lay there, their bright coloured rusted down and dulled by the frost. Kiba stopped silently, smiling ruefully at the playground. Hinata stopped, looking back at Kiba.  
>"Something the matter?"<p>

He smiled again, shaking his head.  
>"Does this place ring any bells?"<br>She looked at the empty playground, and shook her head after a moment of examining the area.  
>"Should I remember this?"<br>"..maybe," he said ruefully. He put his hands in his pockets and sat down on a swing.  
>"Do you remember…the 25th of December 2000?"<p>

She sat down on the neighbouring swing, thinking.  
>"It was the day we met, Hinata," he smiled softly, interrupting her thoughts. She blinked as he grinned at her stunned expression. His voice was so gentle, unlike the coarse and rough Kiba he was with everybody else.<p>

He stood up, pushing her on the swing gently. She giggled as he swung her higher up, until she was laughing wildly, her dark hair swinging across her lilac eyes. She was laughing nearly hysterically. He grinned, and laughed that Kiba laugh that drove her into near hysteria.

"What's so funny?," he asked, pushing her back as she swung higher.  
>"It's just- I remember! How you pushed Naruto-kun over so I could have the swing, even though we'd just met!," she giggled, as he swung her even higher. She used her one free arm to grip the chain attaching the swing to the actual set, and the other was wrapped around the box of almonds. The air was less cold now, and she could barely feel the winter air as she was swung higher and higher.<br>"Well, you smelt better than him! He smelt like- like- ramen!"

"He always smells like ramen!," she laughed loudly, as he swung her higher. Then she slipped off, falling with a yelp as she reached the top of the swinging motion. He yelled a string of profanities before running up to her.  
>"H-Hinata!," he yelled, his eyes clouded with worry as he leaned over her to look at her properly. She was laughing uncontrollably, her eyes squeezed shut, little tears of laughter threatening to fall out of her eyes.<p>

She opened her eyes and her laughter died away as she stared at his deep brown chocolate eyes. He smiled at her, his eyes crinkled at the edges, as he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers. Her eyes widened as his warm lips pressed against hers softly before he pulled away. It felt..right. He pulled her up and crushed her against his chest.  
>"Don't you scare me like that again."<br>She giggled against his chest and wrapped her arms around him.

"So, when were you planning to give me that?"  
>She looked to were he was pointing to. The box of almonds lay discarded in the snow.<br>"Oh, no!" She crawled over to it before cradling in near her chest.  
>"How do you know it's yours?," she asked sheepishly, crawling back to him. She was still shocked from his sudden action.<br>"I could smell it."  
>"What if it isn't?"<br>"Is it?"  
>She shifted nervously in his lap.<br>"Well, yeah."  
>"Well, then it's my second best Christmas present."<p>

A pang of nervousness echoed dully in her chest.  
>"O-oh." She was almost afraid to ask him what his best Christmas present was. She scratched her head with one pale finger, the atmosphere almost tense and awkward. He broke the silence with his loud, hearty laugh, almost making her tip over in shock.<p>

"Do you want to know my best Christmas present, Hinata-chan?," he said, his voice lilting and playful. The way he said 'Hinata-chan' glided off his tongue like velvety gelatin off a wooden spoon. He never called her Hinata-chan, so she figured he was messing with her. She fiddled relentlessly with the ribbon on the box of almonds, ashamed and to be honest, quite embarrassed. Her face was flushed an attractive shade of red.

"U-uh, y-yes, Kiba-kun, I-," she started but he cut her off. He laughed, his body racking with laughter.  
>"You silly girl. The best Christmas present I've ever gotten was you. I love you, Hinata Hyuuga."<br>She smiled at him, as he kissed her on the cheek.  
>"Merry Christmas, Kiba-kun."<p>

Maybe, just maybe, she was a Winter girl after all.

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><p><strong>AN: Yea! It's done! So... cheesy. Click the "Review" button below. (You know you want to.) **

**I'm leaving for Canberra tonight, so I won't be able to check my emails there. Part of a school trip. But I don't care. C: Please review or favourite, or both! If you do both I'll love you to chicken bits. :3 **

**Merry Christmas everyone! **

**Much love,**

**Cass.**

**[lonely eternity]**


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